Collapsible insulated containers have been known for some years. They are typically used as containers for carrying cold drinks, and other cool refreshments, but can also be used to keep foods or beverages warm or hot.
Certain sizes and shapes of coolers are better for some purposes than others. Some collapsible coolers can be folded to a collapsed position, but the folding process may tend to require relatively strong hands, since the insulated panels may be of fair thickness, and may have a resilience that tends to resist folding. These containers tend to unfold easily, but tend to be rather more difficult to fold back into the collapsed or storage position. In the folded position, the front and rear walls remain in generally parallel planar orientation while the bottom panel is folded up in half, and the side panels are folded inward as shown in my issued U.S. Pat. No. Des. 382,771. This kind of cooler is secured in the folded position (a) by a hook-and-eye fabric strip securement between the overfolded lip of the lid portion of the cooler and the front face of the cooler and (b) by side fastening straps that retain the bottom portions of the front panel relative to the back panel, typically by wrapping at least partially around the back panel and being secured thereto with hook-and-eye strips. Coolers of this nature tend to be generally cubic in shape with rectangular sides forming, typically, a six sided box shaped structure when unfolded. A cooler of this type may also tend to require more manufacturing steps than a more bag-like cooler, and may therefore be more costly and time consuming to produce.
Rolling up a collapsible cooler, in the manner in which a sleeping bag is sometimes rolled up, may tend not to be particularly satisfactory in all circumstances. Users may tend to roll up the insulated material too tightly, either damaging the material, or tending to give it a permanent set. This tight rolling approach may also tend to favour persons with relatively strong hands.
It may be that a different kind of cooler is desired that may be somewhat more convenient for rapid use, that may be more quickly and easily folded, or that may provide greater ease of manufacture that may tend to pack efficiently for shipment, or that may present a relatively easily displayed product.
It may also be that it would be preferable to have a cooler that folds in a continuous direction, or that folds back and forth, on a folding panel basis rather than in a continuous tight roll like a sleeping bag.
In the view of the present inventor, there is a need for a foldable insulated container, or bag, that is more easily constructed than the more box shaped type of cubic collapsible insulated container, that may tend to require fewer, or simpler, manufacturing steps, or that may tend to provide an easily displayed and relatively convenient insulated container for everyday use.